Oil: OPEC meeting at month-end in focus

CNBC

Oil markets were tepid Monday ahead of an OPEC meeting at the end of the month to decide whether to continue output cuts

Brent crude futures were at $62.56 per barrel, down 0.3 percent from their last close

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $56.59 a barrel, up 0.1 percent from their last settlement

Reuters

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Oil pumpjacks in the Permian Basin oil field are getting to work as crude oil prices gain.

Oil markets were tepid on Monday as traders were reluctant to take on big new positions ahead of an OPEC meeting at the end of the month, when the producer club is expected to decide whether to continue output cuts aimed at propping up prices.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $62.56 per barrel at 0439 GMT, down 16 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last close.

The deal to curb output is due to expire in March 2018, but OPEC will meet on Nov. 30 to discuss the outlook for the policy.

OPEC is expected to agree an extension of the cut as storage levels remain high despite recent drawdowns, although there are doubts about the willingness of some participants to continue to restrain output.

“(The) OPEC meeting remains the key sector catalyst into year-end … The market expectation is for an extension through 2018, created by OPEC comments early this fall … (but) there is increased risk that OPEC delays the extension decision,” U.S. bank Morgan Stanley said on Monday in a note to clients.

Morgan Stanley said that the question over extended cuts “has shifted to non-OPEC participants’ willingness to extend, primarily Russia”.